And webster wagner



UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE ALBA F. SMITH, OF NCRWICH, CONNECTICUT, ANDWEBSTER WAGNER, OF PALATINE BRIDGE, NEW YORK.

VENTILATING- RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 36,536, datedseptember 23, 1862.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that we, ALBA F. SMITH, of Norwich, in the county of NewLondon and State of Connecticut, and WEBSTER VAGNER, of Palatine Bridge,in the county of Montgomery and State of New York, have invented certainImprovements in Ventilating Railroad-Cars; and we do hereby declare thatthe ollowig is a Jfull and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, and in which- Figure l is a cross section of the body ofa car with our improvements attached, and Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectiono-n the line S, S, in Fig. l.

The nature of our invention consists in discharging the air through theentire space betweenthe cross trames under an elevated port-ion of thecar-roof, which extends longitudinally along the chief portion of thelength of the car, and exhausting it from thence by deflectors throughopenings uniformly dist-ributed in the sides of such elevated portionswhereby the motion of the car is made to effectually and equablywithdraw the foul air which gathers in the upper portion ot the car,without producing an unpleasant draft of air at any portion thereof.

The nature of our invention also consists in the employment of suchexhausters in the sides of a central elevated portion of the roof incombination with ay series of separately adjustable apertures near thetop of the sides of the car, so that the ingress and egress of the airis distributed through the whole length of the car, and each passengermay by opening or closing the aperture nearest him graduate theventilation at that part to suit his convenience without aftecting theventilation of other port-ions, and so that by reason of the ventilationbeing all above the heads of the passengers no disagreeable draft iscreated even when the ventilation is most thorough.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention wewill proceed to describe its construction and operation by the aid ofthe drawings.

A is the body of a car constructed in any of the approved styles ofeither wood or metal. In the roof B we provide an opening C, runningnearly the whole length of the car and of any suitable width, say aboutone third the width of the car, but allowing therafters to extend acrossthe aperture as represented for strength. Over this opening we constructa seco-nd roof D elevated above t-he roof B of the car with sides E,pierced with any desired number of openings e. The openings may beprovided with shutters e', either tilt-ing or sliding, as shown in thedrawing, so that one or more of the said openings e may be inclosed atwill. Exterior to E and covering the perforations therein we buildcontinuous chambers-F, extending along the sides, having openings, j",corresponding t-o those in E, as represented in Fig. 2. In each of theseopenings, f, we iix one or more shutters or exhausters G. swinging onvertical shafts and /capable of being adjustable at various angles tothe line of motion of the car, and also of being reversed so as to standin the same relative position, with the car going in either direction.All the shutters or exhausters G, on either side of C, are connectedtogether by a cord, wire or other suitable tensile connection I-I, whichpasses over a cylinder I at either end of F, so as to form an endlessband as represented. Handles, i, serve to turn I, and thus to operateall the exhausters on that side at once adjusting them all to the sameangle. or reversing them all by one single movement of the handle Thechambers F are raised a little above the root of the car so as to leavechannels or passages m, m, for the tree passageof cinders or other.particles to allow them to be blown along without being liable to beblown in through the openings, f, when the current is by any meanstemporarily reversed. This is a mat-ter of some importance when a car isstanding at a station with a whifiling or variable wind, and is of stillmore consequence when a car chances to run for a little period with theexhausters in the wrong or reversed posit-ion. At each end of theopening C, we place a single shutter J, swinging on a horizontal axis.The forward yo-ne of these exhausters must always be closed and thisbeing attended to, and the rear one` being opened, these openingspromote the efficient action of t-he exhaust when the car is in motion.All of these shutters or exhausters may be made to adjust themselves bythe action of the air it desired. To enable the serie's'G at each sideto so adjust themselves, the simple giving to one of the outer arms orwings a considerable length so as to be acted on very powerfully by theinertia of the air might be suiiicient. 7e prefer however for simplicityand certainty the hand operation described.

When the exhausters G are adjusted in the position shown in Fig. 2, andthe motion of the car is in the direction of the black arrow, the actionof the air upon the shutters G, tends to cause a current of air to owfrom the car in the direct-ion of the red arrows, first through theopening e into F, and thence through the openings, f, into the externalatmosphere, and if air is supplied to the car from any source, thislcurrent will be maintained while the car is in motion. In order toVsupply the air for this current so as to make thorough venti lationwithout inconvenience to the passengers, we provide `openings K in thetop of the sides of the car, at intervals during its entire length, andprovide a shutter L for each opening. These openings are above the headsof the passengers and the air which comes in thereat, passestransversely along the interior of the top of the car in the direct-ionof the red arrows without descending so as to blow directly upon thepassengers, only so much of it descend-V ing as is necessary to supplythe place of the foul air as it rises. If, however, any passengerexperiences inconvenience from the air, he may shut the opening K nexthim, while those who prefer can have their ventilat-ion open. The numberof openings both for the ingress and egress of the air, and theirdistribution through the length of the car, insures a very efficientventilation without necessitating a violent act-ion at any one point.The induction openings 4K being directly beneath the eaves of the car,receive less dust and smoke than in any other position. This arrangementof openings for the ingress of air, isvery efficient and agreeable inwarm weather, but in cold weather it is necessary to warm the air inorder to produce an agreeable temperature in the whole car. In such casewe employ our improved exhausting devices as above describedgraduatingthe amount of their action to the circumstances, bythe use ofthe shutters G, but we admit the air to the car through what is known asSpears stove or some analogous heating device-we prefer to employ one ateach end of the car. In this arrangement the air is received from above,carried down through heat-ing pipes vated roof, are the very eiicientand equable action through the whole length of the car, whether the airis let in through the openings K or through suitable heaters, orotherwise, and the continuity and small cross sectional area of theelevated roof offering but a slight obstruction to the motionV of thecar through the external air. The advantages due t-o the combination andpeculiararrangement of our elevated central ro-of and induction andeduction passages are that a current of air more or less brisk as may bedesired by each passenger is induced to flow through the adjacentinduction passage, not upon him butacross over his head and up into thefree space under the elevated roof, the great capacity of the latterspace and the freedom of the exit therefrom preventing any disagreeabledownward draft upon the passengers from the meeting of the currents.

Having now fully described our" invention what we claim as' new thereinand desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-w 1. Receiving the air fromthe interior of the car into the space under the longitudinal elevatedportion of the roof, and exhausting it from thence by deflectorsthro-ugh openings uniformly distributed at thesides of such elevatedportion for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination and arrangement of the exhausting devices or theirequivalentin the sides of an elevated central portion of the roof andseparately adjustable apertures near the top of the sides of the car forthe admission of fresh air substantially in the manner and for thepurpose herein set p forth. i

ALBA F. SMITH.' WEBSTER WAGNER4 Witnesses:

Gr. H. BABoocK, D. W. S'rn'rsoN.

